I only played it on the PS2 some years after it came out but i still enjoyed it. The storyline, variation in events due to how you play it etc is still pretty advanced compared to your average shooter.

I didn't like some of the alien-based bits quite so much, but as a ride I enjoyed it muchly.

Graphically it's dated, but the gameplay is superb. The battles with the soldiers are one of the reasons why FPS are so, so brilliant.

I'm jealous that you will playing this for the first time - immerse yourself and enjoy. Get the Opposing Force add-on pack as well (you play the part of a soldier, trying to escape the facility) and even get to shoot at Freeman!

I had 2 copies of Blue Shift. One, was in a big old boxset with each HL game and add-on (including CLASSIC Team Fortress) on separate CDs. I accidently left it in the hands of my friend who never returns stuff and as such, lost it forever. Ended up buying the anthology pack for a tenner many years later.

Oh god, I remember downloading/copying loads of mods from old PC Zone games into my custom games file and playing them <3 One was called AZURE SHEEP and was actually better than Blue Shift.

Weren't there were multiple parts to that, all of which were more creepy and atmospheric than the original HL game, if Im remembering right. It's one of the only games I've played that had me in an actual panic and I remember freaking out the first time a z lunged out of the dark at me when i was armed with only a shovel.

HL is a great game, I was particularly fond of the crossbow with sniper capabilities. THOOMK.

I'm sure I remember downloading some sort of add-on for HL1 that had the unadvertised side effect of making the opening sequence of the one player campaign into a bizarre hell-ride. Everything went wrong, robots attacked and killed the workers, workers fell into chemicals, stuff blew up and fell apart, etc. etc.
It was pretty hilarious until the guard came to let you out of the train carriage, and then just fell down dead when he got within a foot of the door. Laving you stuck inside the train, unable to play the game.
Does anyone know anything about this?